It's that time of year again when England proudly displays the flag of St George. Sad really I think that we cannot be patriotic all the time, only when England, sorry Eng-er-land are playing in the World Cup. Ah well, beter now than never eh? I'm minded to think of our American cousins who proudly display their country's flag whenever and wherever they can, true patriots you see, and not just 'cause the US are playing in a World Cup.
What a laugh the first match was for us eh? We took on the US and it was a draw. Apparently there is a lot of disgruntlement with the ball being used as it's too light, and this coupled with the cool night air of South African winter nights drawing in just makes it too slippery to catch a hold of (as our poor maligned goalie will tell you, it frittered itself out of his hands and crept agonisingly slowly over the goal line and just couldn't be held). You could say 'bad workman and tools' coming to mind but there is real dissent amongst all the teams, managers etc that the ball will cause problems, and so it is proving.
I am so happy to see the fans delight in thinking that England will win the World Cup this year. The fact that we last won it in 1966, some 46 years ago and not since, has no bearing whatsoever on their enthusiasm. I wish them well, it would be nice to think they could win again but somehow I don't think the players have the winning metality to attack and not consider defeat, to win at all costs; it's just not in them (you can't teach this stuff either, you either have it or you don't) and so I think they'll make the quarter final stage and then we'll see. Come on England!
I wish the great Pierluigi Collina, THE BEST referee in the world ever hadn't retired; he was the only ref the players respected and didn't try to fool. Even those who were so obviously in the wrong sport for the diving they used to do and/or the wrong profession for all the play acting they did. He does referee for charity now, last seen here in England refereeing the Sport Relief Game 2010 where the rest of the World Team beat England on penalties.
If the players want to see the attacking, winning mentality I'm talking about they can always take a look at the Cricketing World Twenty20 Tournament held ealier this year, when Paul Collingwood led the English T20 squad onto the victory of all T20 victories, and won the World Cup against the old enemy Australia. Fantastic to see, they went out to win and win they did - in style. A crowning moment in sport is when you believe in yourself enough and you spread that enthusiasm to the team so that there is no thought of defeat - and it carries through into the game naturally. Well done Colly and the lads, an amazing feat to be sure. Now if we can just transfer that mentality over to the other forms of English Cricket then we'll be unbeatable. It was SO depressing recently to come off that fantastic high of the World T20 Cup to an English Test Match! Oh man, like watching paint dry, it is so slow. Took the likes of Eoin Morgan and Kevin Pietersen (also from the T20 squad) to show the old guard how it's done, we did win the International One dayers, but it was horrendously slow, they were expected to win quickly over the minnows of the game - Bangladesh, who really made them work for it. Their opener Tamim Iqbal went on to the board at Lord's after making his test century there, they should have been outplayed but they weren't. Some of the England bowlers need a good shake up, or 'rested' imho. Only T20 has the form to make cricket exciting, it's a new development yes, and this is only the second T20 Cup but it's so fast and furious and really exciting as the game goes one way, and then another and you really have no idea who will win until the last over. The the Test matches arrive and you could put a couple of tortoises in in whites and let em go, wouldn't notice the difference.
Now when they go to Australia they are talking about winning The Ashes again. Newsflash: Not with the present incumbents in the team you won't. Australia live, breathe, work, eat, sleep and die cricket so you have to be better than you usually are and England test team players are not. What they usually are is complacent and very inconsistent; perhaps with the exceptions of Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Craig Kiewswetter, Steven Finn, Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad and Kevin Pietersen. Lets hope they make the squad because the selectors recently are happy to keep the old slow coaches on board and I'm afraid if you play the same guys all the time you get the same result all the time. Have the courage this time guys to make the decent change and put in your T20 squad, they KNOW how to win and are hungry enough to go out and do it for England.
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